The Final Ingredient
by Mintacia
Summary: Nico di Angelo and Reyna Ramírez-Arellano did not release the dragon on the Quidditch game, but no one believes them. Headmaster Chiron hopes that their punishment will help them learn respect for the other Houses. However, the only thing that Nico is learning is how frustrating the handsome Hufflepuff, Will Solace, can be. /Solangelo, Hogwarts AU/
1. Pendant

**The Final Ingredient**

_Chapter One: **Pendant  
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A blast of flames caught my sleeve on fire. Yelping, I stumbled away from the dragon and into the bars of his enclosure. A few feet away, Reyna ducked for cover behind the water trough.

As the dragon, Festus, launched himself into the air with a blood curdling roar, I ripped off my cloak, threw it on the ground, and stomped out the flames. _What on earth has gotten into him? _I wondered, shocked by the dragon's behavior.

"Nico!" Reyna screamed at me from the other side of the enclosure. Glancing up, I found the bus-sized dragon flying straight at me. _Oh shit._ I thought before dropping to my knees and digging wildly through my cloak's pockets. Right as Festus's jaw dropped open, I yanked out my wand and frantically cast a magical barrier around myself.

The dragon spewed a stream of fire and, for about half a second, I found myself staring at a wall of orange and red flames as they were deflected by the barrier.

Before the smoke could fully clear, there was a sudden explosion of metal smashing into metal. Twisting around, I blanched when I saw that the metal doors to the enclosure were open.

Festus was flying straight towards the Quidditch arena.

Not a minute before Festus had went crazy, the Quidditch arena had erupted in cheering. Reyna and I had assumed that either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff must have caught the snitch, since the teams hadn't been playing for long. The crowd was still cheering, right up until Festus reached the arena. Then, the screams changed from joy to terror.

I watched as the bronze dragon weaved in and amongst the stands, chasing tiny players on brooms and spewing flames into the air.

"Am I imagining this?" Reyna asked softly as she inched out from behind the water trough. She came over to my side and stood next to me, looking about as horrified as I was. I shrugged weakly in response to her question.

Together, we watched the chaos in silence for a minute.

"I don't know what got into him." I muttered, feeling dazed. Festus had never tried to attack anyone before. Heck, he was so peaceful that even first year students were allowed in his enclosure.

"Should we…?" Reyna tentatively began, waving half-heartedly at the arena.

"Uh, yea, probably."

I grabbed my burned robe and slipped it back on as we took off after the dragon.

After jogging all the way to the Quidditch arena, I was huffing raggedly. I couldn't help but think, as my lungs burned, that maybe getting a little more exercise regularly wouldn't hurt. In my head, I could hear Bianca, my sister, telling me _you're skin and bones! You need to eat more! _Despite of how out of shape I was, I (for the most part) managed to keep up with Reyna.

The arena was in bad shape. The beautiful curtains that hung from the stands were roasted into tatters and the green grass was covered with long scorch marks. In the center of the ruined arena, Festus was roped down by magical chains, with professors swarming around him. He was still unnaturally angry, but a chain around his muzzle kept him from blasting more fire. Tyson, the half-giant groundskeeper, was trying to calm him.

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players were scattered across the arena.

None of the Gryffindor team seemed to be too badly injured. Zoë and Thalia, a Gryffindor chaser and beater respectively, were carefully removing their smoldering black robes. Above them, the Gryffindor seeker, Frank, was perched on his broom, watching the dragon nervously. I noticed that his broom bristles were strangely short, as if Mrs. Festus had managed to bite off the end.

The Hufflepuff team didn't look as good. Piper, Gryffindor's goalie, was crouched next to her boyfriend, the Captain of the Hufflepuff team, Jason Grace. His yellow and black robes were smeared with soot and dirt, and his leg was bent an unusual angle. Several yards away from him, Asclepius, the head nurse, was tending to the two Hufflepuff beaters. Both Lou Ellen and Cecil had burns along their arms, as if they'd stuck their arms straight into Festus' mouth. Which, knowing how crazy those two were, I considered that they might have done just that.

One of the few uninjured Hufflepuffs was their goalie, Will Solace. He looked as handsome as ever – _no, stop that, he's a stupid Hufflepuff, _I chastised myself.

Will was talking with the Gryffindor captain, Percy Jackson, not far from me and Reyna.

"Nico! Reyna!" Professor Tyson shouted our names, jolting me out of my thoughts. Normally, Tyson was very kind, soft-spoken even. Seeing him look as angry as he did now as he stormed over to us was terrifying. Several of the professors and the headmaster, Professor Chiron, were following him. "What you do to my dragon!?" He asked with his typical broken English.

_Oh shit. _This was more terrifying than Festus blasting flames at me. Tyson's yelling had attracted the attention of all the players around us. Which, to my utmost embarrassment, included both Percy and Will. They stopped their conversation to peer curiously at us.

Luckily, Reyna answered, as I couldn't find my voice. "Nothing, sir! We don't know what brought upon this behavior! We were just cleaning out his enclosure, like you asked us to, when he took off!"

The Head of the Ravenclaw House, Professor Athena, huffed disdainfully. "Do you really expect us to believe that two Slytherins_ accidentally_ released a dragon on a Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch game?" Athena asked accusingly. I scowled, annoyed. Why did us being Slytherins mean we were automatically guilty? I mean, I knew the evidence wasn't exactly in our favor, but still.

Our Head of House, Professor Aphrodite, chimed in harshly. "Why does it matter what House they're from, Athena? They're just children. Mistakes get made."

"Fifth year students can hardly be considered children, Aphrodite." Athena snapped.

Before the two teachers could continue bickering, Headmaster Chiron cleared his throat and said, "Professors, let's all stay calm." The professors looked frustrated, but they stopped arguing. He turned to us and I shrunk a little under his gaze. "Mr. di Angelo, can you tell me exactly what happened?"

Ugh, why couldn't he ask Reyna? I gulped down my anxiety – both Will and Percy were listening in attentively – and gruffly explained, "Sir, we were cleaning Festus' enclosure when he became frantic. He shot fire at me -" I raised my burned sleeve as evidence, "- before smashing his way through the doors of the enclosure."

"And he exhibited no strange behavior prior to that?" Headermaster Chiron asked kindly. I shook my head.

"No sir, he was his normal self. He -"

I didn't get to finish my sentence. Ares, the professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, started yelling from where he was crouched next to Festus, "Someone placed a hex on this dragon! Aphrodite, get over here!" Aphrodite, being the professor of Charms, daintily scuttled back over to Festus.

Athena crossed her arms and let out a proud huff, as if saying _told you so. _I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Who on earth would put a curse on Festus? And how? Reyna and I had been the only ones in the enclosure right before she went nuts.

I noticed some of the Gryffindor players were gathering together and glaring at me and Reyna. I couldn't hear what they were muttering to each other, but I doubted it was nice things.

Murmuring some quick words, Aphrodite flicked her wand and shot a beam of purple light at Festus. Almost immediately, Festus visibly relaxed. Tyson dashed back to the dragon, throwing his arms around the dragon's neck.

"Were either of you aware that Festus was hexed?" Asked Headmaster Chiron. Both me and Reyna shook our heads, _no_, vehemently.

This time, it was the Gryffindor players that snorted loudly in disbelief. They started to jeer at us, saying _yea right _and _damned Slytherins. _It wasn't until Percy stormed over to them and yelled at them to shut up that they stopped. If I hadn't have gotten over my crush on the Gryffindor Captain years ago, that probably would have made me swoon.

Chiron stared at the two of us for a long moment, before sighing. "That'll be all for now. I'll need some time to discuss with the Heads of Houses and to investigate. Head back to your House, Ms. Ram_íez-Arellano, Mr. di Angelo_."

He didn't need to tell us twice. As we left, I indulged in one last glance at Will. His expression was unreadable. _Not that I care about what he thinks of me, _I reminded myself_. _Will was childish, overly cheerful, and occasionally downright stubborn. These things I knew for a fact; after all, this year I'd gotten stuck with him as partner in Potions class.

"Red caps." Reyna told the painting when we reached the Slytherin House. As soon as the painting door swung open, we were met with the sounds of laughter and chatter. The Slytherin common room was abuzz with an unusual amount of life. Everyone erupted into cheers when we stepped through into the room.

"There they are!" Octavian shouted at us, "Our heroes!"

I sighed. No, I wasn't surprised to find the Slytherins were having a party, complete with drinks and a prepackaged sweets, to celebrate that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams nearly got roasted.

Reyna spoke first. "We didn't put the hex on the dragon."

"Oh, don't be modest," Drew chided, waving a manicured hand at us, "it's not often you two nerds do anything worth while around here. Be proud!" For the umpteenth time this year, I found myself wondering how on earth Drew Tanaka had conned her way into becoming the female Prefect for the fifth year Slytherins.

"To Reyna and Nico!" Bryce laughed, raising his soda can in toast.

The rest of the Slytherins raised their own drinks and echoed him, "TO REYNA AND NICO!" They all started snickering and laughing. Octavian grinned at us, his eyes flashing menacingly. There was something odd about how he looked at us, like he was celebrating more than a few Quidditch players getting roasted.

A glittery, brown pendant slipped out of his robes as he leaned forward to put down his drink. Winking at me, Octavian tucked it into the collar of his shirt.

I shuddered with disgust at his wink. Octavian was very easily my least favorite fellow Slytherin.

Sighing, I grumbled to Reyna, "I'm going to bed."

"Me too." She agreed.

Before we could head our separate ways, Clarisse ran over to us. "Oh, come on guys, don't be weird. That dragon thing was pretty awesome!" Clarisse, other than Reyna, was one of the few Slytherins that I actually truly liked in our year. She was rough around the edges, but she usually meant well.

"Clarisse, you're dating a Gryffindor." I pointed out to her.

"So? I appreciate dragon violence whenever possible. Besides, Chris isn't on the Quidditch team."

"That doesn't change the fact that we didn't hex the dragon." Reyna stated, frustrated. "And yet, Chiron thinks we did. We'll probably get a year's worth of detention."

Detention... _ugh._ Reyna was completely right; we were utterly doomed. The last time I had gotten detention, I had to spend the entire afternoon helping Apollo clean his divination teacups while listening him spout prophecies and poetry nonstop.

Cheerfully, Clarisse declared, "I think releasing a dragon is worth a little detention!" Sympathy was not Clarisse's strong suite. Before she could further insist _how cool _what we did was, both Reyna and I escaped to our dormitory towers.

I hoped some of the drama would blow over by the morning.

It hadn't. The next morning, when I entered the Great Hall at breakfast, all eyes snapped to me. I tried to hide my anxiety as I headed over to where Reyna was sitting. "They're staring." I informed her quietly as I sat down

"Yep." She replied casually in between shoveling eggs into her mouth.

At the next table over, a bunch of Ravenclaws were whispering to each other as they peered curiously at us. The plates around me clattered as I slammed my head into the table. _Fantastic. _I hated all this attention, especially since it was attention for something I didn't do.

"Yep." Reyna said again.

It was kind of funny how easily we communicated. Although, it really wasn't that surprising, I supposed; Reyna and I had been close friends ever since we arrived at Hogwarts, five years ago.

Arms suddenly encircled my neck. I didn't have to look to find out who it was. "Hi Bianca." I greeted her tiredly, as I remained with my forehead pressed to the table.

"Hey," She spoke in a playful baby voice, "how's my baby brother?"

"Bad." I told her honestly. "The entire world thinks Reyna and I hexed a dragon to attack a Quidditch game."

"But you didn't!" Bianca pointed out. Sometimes, I was jealous of her eternal optimism.

"No one believes that, though. We are pretty well doomed_._"

Bianca's arms disappeared from around my neck. Peeking over my shoulder, I found my older sister glaring down at me. She looked like she was about to chastise once again me for being so _doom-and-gloom_ (her words, not mine).

She didn't get the chance to. "Ms. Ram_íez-Arellano, Mr. di Angelo,_ could you please come with me?" Headmaster Chiron's voice boomed across the entire Great Hall. Jumping up, it took me some searching to find the headmaster. He was standing at the entrance, waiting with his arms tucked behind him.

"You'll be alright." My sister tried to reassure me, but it didn't help. Gulping, I pushed myself back to my feet and headed towards Headmaster Chiron. Reyna followed my lead. Meanwhile, all of the eyes in the Great Hall were on us again. I noticed Will Solace watching me intently from the Hufflepuff table.

Blushing, I sped up.

Headmaster Chiron gave us a small smile when we reached him, before turning and leading us through the hallways. Instead of focusing on my fear, I tried to focus on the weird way that Chiron walked (it reminded me of a horse). I'd heard rumors that he had been in a wheelchair when he was younger, due to a freak magical accident.

Headmaster Chiron stopped in front of an ugly gargoyle. "Ambrosia." He told the gargoyle, which then gurgled a bit before the entrance opened.

I'd only been into Headmaster Chiron's office once, last year, for cursing Jason Grace. After consuming a truth potion (Drew thought it was a hilarious prank), I had panicked and raced down to the greenhouse to hide until it wore off. Unfortunately, Jason had intercepted me in the middle of my panicked escape. He tried to help by telling me that everything would be okay, and _what's the worse that can happen? _Before I could stop myself, I had blurted, _I might tell everyone that I'm gay! _I had sort of (temporarily) cursed his voice away, once I'd realized what I'd said.

On that note, ironically, Jason and I had gotten along relatively well since then. He was one of the few Hufflepuffs that I willingly associated myself with.

Taking a seat at his desk, Headmaster Chiron sighed heavily and frowned at us. Twitching nervously, I planted myself a few feet away from his desk. _Please, no more than a few months of detention, _I prayed silently.

"We didn't have anything to do with the dragon, Headmaster." Reyna tried insisting, but I was pretty sure arguing was pointless. Maybe we would have a shot at a fair trial if we weren't Slytherins? But that wasn't the case. No, sadly, we were more doomed than Professor Demeter's mandrake roots.

"I would like to believe you, Ms. Ramíez-Arellano." Headmaster Chiron said gently, "But unfortunately, the evidence is simply not in your favor." _Great, _I thought glumly. "However, I think I have come up with a fair punishment."

That got my attention. _Fair punishment?_

"Since your actions show that you both lack respect for the other Houses, I have decided that, for the rest of the school year, you will live with them so that you can learn to respect and appreciate the other Hogwarts houses. Ms. Ramíez-Arellano, you will spend the rest of your fifth year in Gryffindor. Mr. di Angelo, you will spend the rest of fifth year in Hufflepuff."

My jaw fell open. "You're joking." I blurted.

"No, I am not." Headmaster Chiron replied evenly, his eyes narrowing.

"Is that even allowed?" Reyna demanded.

"As a matter of fact, it is. It's rare, but it has been done before." Standing back up, Chiron added threateningly, "If you'd like, I can also add on a month's worth of detention. Otherwise, you can head back to Slytherin, pack your things, and move to your new Houses. I'll have the Prefects informed of your arrival. Oh, and you can leave your Slytherin uniforms behind. I'll have robes waiting for you with your new colors."

As it turned out, Headmaster Chiron wasn't joking.

Later in the evening, I found myself passing by the kitchens with all my stuff (minus my lovely green and black robes) jammed into two suitcases. Hazel, my half-sister and Hufflepuff Prefect, was absolutely gushing as she lead me to the Hufflepuff House, "Oh Nico, you're going to love it! We have the nicest common room! We play board games every Tuesday and we do karaoke every Wednesday and..."

It sounded awful. I stopped listening to Hazel, instead focusing on the paintings that we were passing. I'd never been to this area of the castle before. The people in the paintings stared back at me, unfriendly. They knew I didn't belong here.

Hazel stopped by some barrels. Confused, I glanced around, trying to find a painting big enough to be the entrance. "Here we are!" She declared, before leaning forward and tapping on one of the barrels. Before I could ask her _what the fuck_, the barrel's lid flipped open. "You first! I'll get your stuff."

This had to be a joke. Did she want me to crawl through a damned barrel? I stared at her carefully, waiting for some indication that this was her version of humor. When she raised an eye brow, I realized she wasn't joking. Inching closer to the barrel, I peered into it. Sure enough, I could see a people and couches on the other side.

Groaning loudly to let Hazel know how much I disapproved of this ridiculous entrance, I eased myself into the barrel and crawled into it, head first. The tunnel wasn't long, but it remained tight until it reached the room. It was as I reached the far edge of the tunnel that I realized that I couldn't exit the tunnel gracefully. I was about to back up and enter, legs first, when a hand – Hazel's - pushed my butt forward and I tumbled out of the tunnel.

If I hadn't found myself awkwardly staring at a bunch of curious Hufflepuffs, I would have turned around and snapped at Hazel._ Great_, I thought to myself, blushing, _I've been here two seconds and I've already embarrassed myself._

It didn't help that Will Solace immediately hopped to his feet and jogged over to me. "You alright?" He asked with a smile, as he offered me a hand.

Heat rushing to my cheeks. I ignored his hand and pushed myself up. "I'm fine." I replied curtly. Hopefully, he couldn't tell how nervous I was. Really, why did it have to be Hufflepuff? Why couldn't Chiron have sent me to Gryffindor? I didn't have a crush on any of the Gryffindors.

My two suitcases crashed one after the other through the barrel. After they emerged, Hazel slipped herself through, feet first. She landed gracefully.

Will pulled back his hand and smiled brightly. "Okay, well, welcome to Hufflepuff, new recruit!"

I glared at him, unamused.

Somehow, he was unaffected by my glare. Will launched into a spiel, flailing his arms around in an almost comical fashion as he pointed out certain things. "This is our common room, obviously! The plants are all thanks to Professor Demeter, our Head of House. We take turns watering them. Over there is our board game cabinet, and over there we have our shared collection of exploding snap cards, and over there..."

All the people and animals in the paintings on the walls were glaring at me. While Will droned on about where everything was, I was distracted by one painting in particular. To my right, there was a huge picture of an old, heavyset woman. She was giving me a nasty look, as I was stinking up the Hufflepuff common room just by being here. Annoyed, I stuck out my tongue at the painting.

Will stopped in spiel to blink in surprise. "Uh, it's probably not a good idea to be rude to Helga Hufflepuff, even if she's only a painting. She is our founder, after all." The woman in the painting gave me a smug grin and I frowned more.

"Oh. Sorry." I muttered, but then I added under my breath, "But not really." The old woman deserved it, what with the look she was giving me. Anyways, it's not like I wanted to be in her stupid House.

Laughter bubbled out of Will, which surprised me. He looked extremely amused, despite how rude I was purposefully trying to be. "It's going to be fun having you here." He said pleasantly.

Me? Fun? "Did you get dropped on your head as a child?" I asked him incredulously.

"No, why?"

"Because I think you're crazy."

A hand smacked me upside the head. "Nico, be nice!" Hazel whined before jamming her hands on her hips and staring me down, literally so; she was about two inches taller than me. In my defense, she was on the upper end of the height averages for a girl.

Before I could reply with a growl, Will spoke with a chuckle, "No, it's fine! I'm used to his sass. Nico's my partner in Potions class."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Will." Hazel said. I couldn't tell if the sorrowfulness in her voice was honest or in jest.

Hmph! _I_ was a great lab partner. _I_ wasn't the one who kept wanting to discover new potions by mixing random ingredients together (cough_Will_cough). Annoyance flashed through me. "Hello, I'm right here!" I told her grumpily.

Hazel whacked lightly me on the back of the head again before I could stop her. "Yea, so be nice!" She huffed at me.

Growling, I tried to come up with a good retort. Unfortunately, all I could come up with was, "Well... fine!"

That's when Jason cleared his throat and stepped forward. I'd hadn't even noticed him in the room, what with my attention having gone to Will and his stupidly attractive face. "Uh. Like Will said, welcome to Hufflepuff. I know this is a weird situation, but we're happy to have you here regardless. I'm betting you'd like to go ahead and get your stuff settled?" Jason glanced nervously between me, Hazel, and Will as he spoke.

"Yes." I immediately agreed, relieved at the idea of a break from all this attention.

"Good, I'll show you our dorm!" Will exclaimed with excitement.

For a second, it looked like Jason was going to argue with Will. "Well, okay then." Jason said reluctantly. I couldn't help but wonder if he could see right through me and what I thought of Will. After all, other than Reyna, he was the only person who knew that I wasn't interested in girls; not even my own sisters knew my _preferences_. Starting to feel apprehensive, I pushed my worries to the back of my mind.

In the back of the common room, Lou Ellen and Cecil started snickering fiercely, but at what, I wasn't sure.

I followed Will to the side of the common room and into a winding hallway that was periodically interrupted by bronze doors. When Will reached the fifth door along the hallway, he stopped and pushed it open. "Here we are!"

The Hufflepuff dormitories reminded me of the Slytherin dormitories, but with more plants and more of the color yellow. There was a row of beds along the wall, with bookshelves and cabinets next to each one. Only the farthest bed looked unoccupied, with it's bookshelf barren. _Home sweet home._ I thought bitterly as I dragged my suitcases over to it.

"This one is mine!" Will said, before throwing himself down onto the bed right next to the empty one. _Figures,_ I thought as I stared at his bright orange comforter and the thick textbooks on his bookshelf. _Are those... medical textbooks?_ Scowling, I gave my head a shake. Will Solace was odd.

I knocked my suitcases onto their backs and dropped down onto my knees next to them. I was about to unzip one of them and start digging into my stuff, but I stopped when I noticed that Will was sitting on the edge of his bed and watching me. That's when it occurred to me that I was alone in a room with him. Improper ideas jumped into my mind and I couldn't stop heat from flooded through me.

"What?" I snapped at Will, ignoring my impulses.

"Do you want any help unpacking?" He asked politely.

"No." I told him flatly. In fact, what I really wanted was for him to leave so that I could relax. It was too weird being this close to him.

And, then it occurred to me that I'd be this close to him every night until the end of my fifth year. He would be in the bed next to me when I slept. Several cusses rolled through my mind and I scowled in thought.

"Are you sure? I'm great at organization!" Will offered again, smiling his way-to-friendly smile.

"No." I repeated again, a bit harsher this time. _Let me suffer in peace._

"No, you don't want help, or no, you don't think I'm a good organizer?" He was teasing me. Will Solace, teasing me. So, this is what hell was like. Flustered beyond belief, I settled for glaring at him hotly in response.

Giggling, Will pushed himself back to his feet. "Okay, okay!" He said, putting his hands up in defeat. "I'll let you have your alone time. But hey, come on out to the common room when you're done! Since it's a Sunday, we're going to be doing a lot of fun stuff this evening!"

As soon as the bronze door to the dorm closed behind Will, I flopped forward onto my suitcase. How was I supposed to survive in this place for the next five months? It was bad enough that I was completely different from the happy Hufflepuffs. Once my impossible feelings for Will were added into the mix, there was really only one word to explain my punishment: it was a clusterfuck.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

Hello everyone and welcome to my latest Solangelo story. :O I won't be updating this one as often as Cobalt Blue because the chapters in this story are much longer. You can expect updates at least once a week, though!

For a link to an extra tidbit that accompanies the chapter, check out my profile!


	2. Unicorn

**The Final Ingredient**

_Chapter Two: **Unicorn**_

After getting my stuff unpacked, I delayed for as long as possible. I must have rearranged my books on the bookshelf about eight times before I decided to face my inevitable doom.

I headed back to the Hufflepuff common room.

The common room was still full of Hufflepuffs, chatting and playing card games. I eased myself onto an overly plush armchair at the edge of the room. Most of the fifth-years were in the middle of several games of exploding snap, which was a card game that I hadn't played since I was in third year. I couldn't actually remember how to play, but, instead of admitting that, I just refused to play.

Which, by the way, wasn't easy. Will was strangely determined to get me to play exploding snap with him. I had to tell him _no_ about twenty times before he backed off. Unfortunately, he gravitated back over to me a couple minutes later with some silly trading card game. He didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word no.

"Come on, it's so much fun! It's not hard to play, I promise." Will insisted as he shuffled the cards. Right as I was about to tell him _hell no_ once again, he made the cutest pout-y face. My resolve crumbled.

"Ugh... fine." I grumbled.

If you had told me a week ago that I was going to spend my Sunday evening in the Hufflepuff common room learning to play some muggle card game (ironically called Magic) from Will Solace, I would have laughed in your face. Surprisingly, the game wasn't that bad, despite it being a muggle game_. I suppose the muggles occasionally get something right_, I pondered to myself as I stared at the cards in my hand.

Then, around nine in the evening, everyone started wrapping up their games. Even Will collected all of the Magic cards together after we finished our fourth game and gently tucked them into a perfectly shaped box. Scowling, I watched all of this quietly. It was only nine a'clock, after all; it was early for bed.

_Weird ass Hufflepuffs,_ I thought with annoyance, _but oh well_. There were worse habits than hitting the hay early. I stretched lazily before getting up and heading towards the hallway where the dormitories were.

"Hey Nico, where are you going?" Will grabbed my arm as he asked me this, stopping me.

I blinked, confused. "Bed? Aren't you guys wrapping up for the night?"

Will laughed. "No, not at all! We're about to have our weekly share-circle!"

I must not have heard him correctly. No, it sounded like had just said that they were about to have a _share-circle_. "What?" I asked dumbly.

"Our share-circle! It's a tradition for our year. Come on!" He linked his arm with mine and dragged me over to where the other Hufflepuffs were now rearranging a bunch of chairs and couches.

I glanced back and forth between Will and the rest of the Hufflepuffs, waiting for some sort of sign that this was a joke. He couldn't be serious, could he? A share-circle, judging solely by the name itself, sounded absolutely lame and very uncomfortable. And yet, here they were, aligning the chairs and the couches in a rough circle.

If you had told me a week ago that I was going to spend my Sunday night in the Hufflepuff common room while listening to the Hufflepuffs share their feelings with each other, I would have stared at you with horror and told you that _that's not even funny_.

About twenty minutes into this torture, everyone was frowning sympathetically as Juniper tearfully explained how she tried to convince some second year Ravenclaws to recycle, but they _just wouldn't_. Her boyfriend, Grover, reached out and took her hand. She squeezed it and smiled weakly. "I told them that recycling could be easy and fun, but they started laughing at me!"

Sighing, I dropped my head into my hands. The Hufflepuffs were way too emotional for me.

Caught up in pitying myself, I didn't notice that Juniper had finished until Jason reached over from his arm chair and gave my arm a poke. "Hey Nico, do you want to go next?"

"Go next?" I repeated flatly, narrowing my eyes at Jason. Did he really expect me to participate in this nonsense?

"Yeah!" He smiled kindly at me, which only annoyed me more. It was bad enough that I was sitting through this! Now, they had the balls to ask me to share? Heck, now that I was thinking about it, I wasn't sure why I was even sitting in on this stupid share-circle. It wasn't an official Hufflepuff tradition, which I was pretty sure meant that I didn't have to join in.

Instead of replying to Jason, I shoved myself to my feet and stalked out of the common room and all the way back to the fifth year boy's dorm. Actions spoke louder than words, after all.

I pushed the door open to the dorm and stormed over to my bed. Groaning, I flopped down, face first, onto the bed.

The Hufflepuffs were too much.

The door to the dorm opened. I refused to look up and acknowledge whoever it was that had followed me. Unfortunately, he didn't give me the option to ignore him. Will sat down at the foot of my bed. "Nico, what's wrong?" He whined.

"What's wrong?" I echoed him harshly as I reluctantly rolled over and sat up. "Everything is wrong! I'm not a Hufflepuff, Will. I don't share my feelings. I don't want to."

Will stared at me for a long moment, before the corner of his lip quirked up a bit. "Okay, then you don't have to... but_ technically_," he drawled out the _tech_ part of _technically_, "you just now shared your feelings with me."

"I… what?" Was he joking?

"Your feelings of how you don't want to share your feelings!"

I groaned and flopped back down onto the bed. Will began to laugh heartily. Even when I tilted my head up and shot a glare at him, he didn't seem fazed.

"Oh cheer up!" He told me cheerfully. "I promise living with us won't be that bad. We're a cool bunch!"

"A weekly sharing circle is cool?"

"Well, I think it is." I rolled my eyes at him, which only caused Will to laugh again. "Hey, I tell you what. If you manage to survive this week, then I'll have a surprise for you. Okay?"

A surprise? I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at Will. "What's the surprise?"

"Well gosh, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" He had me there with that logic. Regardless, it was hard to look forward to any sort of surprise that was offered by someone as unpredictable as Will Solace. The idea of a surprise made me kind of anxious, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I sat back up and nodded hesitantly at Will.

The only problem was that I'd have to survive a full week with the Hufflepuffs first.

While Will went back to the share-circle, I went ahead and went to bed.

The next morning was weird.

I was awoken by pleasant greetings of _good morning_ and _how did you sleep?_ Peeling my eyes open, I glared at the Hufflepuff boys as they threw open the curtains and straightened up their beds. It was absolutely absurd to me to watch their behavior. In the Slytherin dorm, we definitely did not open the curtains or make our beds. In fact, we didn't welcome the morning in general. For a Slytherin (or at least for me), the morning was the enemy.

I was actually about to go back to sleep when the boys started undressing. Will, only a few feet from my bed, yanked off his shirt and tossed it onto his bed. That snapped me awake. All the exercise from Quidditch was evident with the muscular grooves of his back. My mouth went dry.

I jumped out of bed quickly and turned away from the half-naked Hufflepuffs. No, I wasn't going to allow myself to stare at them, no matter how amazing they looked (especially Will). My heart was still racing a little bit as I dug through the wardrobe for my clothes.

Yellow was not my color. Yet, that's all that I had. I dug through the clothes that Chiron had provided, looking in vain for something that wasn't an obnoxious shade of yellow. But, sadly, everything was at least partially yellow. In the end, I settled for a gray sweater with the least about of yellow of any of my new clothing options, with only a border of yellow around the end of the sleeves, collar, and hem.

I carried my clothes over to a divider in the corner of the room and changed behind it. In Slytherin, I didn't care about dressing in front of the other guys, but they had practically been family.

By the time I was done changing, the rest of the guys had already left the dorm. I was relieved by that. That meant I could enjoy a nice solitary walk to the Great Hall and eat breakfast in peace. Gathering my school supplies into my new black and yellow backpack, I headed on out of the dormitory.

I didn't expect to find all of the fifth year Hufflepuffs gathered in the common room.

"Oh, there you are!" Jason said, smiling. I stared at him, shocked.

"What...?" I muttered uncertainly.

"We always go to breakfast together." Hazel explained as she walked over to me and threw an arm over my shoulder. Why were the Hufflepuffs so damned touchy? I shrugged her arm off and bristled with frustration. All I wanted was some time to wallow in my own pity.

I decided that all of the Hufflepuffs were crazy. Despite that, I allowed myself to be dragged along.

At breakfast, I found myself jammed in between Will and Hazel in the mess Hall. Both of them were much too close to me, but that seemed to be strangely normal for the Hufflepuffs. Unlike the Slytherins, the Hufflepuffs did not leave the respectful six inches between themselves and their neighbor at the table. No, rather, they all crushed in so tight that Will's thigh was brushing mine (which was thoroughly distracting).

The table was full of chatter. Several conversations were going on in my immediate vicinity: Grover was suggesting recycling ideas to his girlfriend, Kayla and Clovis were discussing proper sleeping techniques, Lou Ellen and Cecil were planning their next prank in their prank war with the Ravenclaw brothers (Travis and Connor), and Will and Jason were talking about their Quidditch practice.

It was easy to slip away from the table, what with everyone so engaged within their conversations. Even Will didn't notice as I eased out from between him and Hazel.

Reyna was sitting at the far edge of the Gryffindor table by herself, pushing her food around her plate disdainfully. It was strange to see her dressed up in yellow and red. "Hey." I greeted softly as I stopped about a foot away from her.

Reyna looked up, surprised. She looked tired and her eyes were red. "Hey."

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Bad." She replied dryly.

"Me too."

"Most of the Gryffindors won't talk to me."

I let out a short guffaw. Reyna's situation sounded preferable. "Funny, I'm having the opposite problem."

Reyna started to laugh, her face contorting into a big smile. It was a nice change from the sadness. "Only you, Nico, would be upset at people being nice to you."

I rolled my eyes at her, but I couldn't help but smile a little. I understood what she was getting at it, but I was pretty sure most people, if placed in my situation, would have the same disdain for the Hufflepuffs' tendencies. I defended myself by explaining, "Reyna, they do a weekly sharing circle... where they share their feelings."

"Oh." She said, her eye brows furrowing. "Wow. That's... something."

"Yeah." I agreed with a huff.

Reyna opened her mouth to reply, but she froze when she noticed two Gryffindors walking towards us. Thalia and Zoë both glared at me as they sat down on opposite sides of the table, a few feet away from Reyna.

"Are you lost, Nico?" Thalia asked me rudely, before waving her hand towards the other side of the great Hall. "The Hufflepuff table is over there."

The animosity in her voice caught me by surprise.

Zoë, with her typical weird accent and word choice, muttered, "Thalia, thy words are rude."

Thalia whispered back, loud enough for me to hear, "Oh come on, it's bad enough having one of them here."

Anger bubbled in my veins. Was this how these girls were treating Reyna? Clenching my fists, I had to bite back insults. I didn't need to get either me or Reyna into any more trouble.

I shot Reyna a sympathetic frown. "I'll... see you later." She nodded sadly. I couldn't help but wonder if her eyes were red because she'd been crying. _No,_ I told myself as I headed back to the Hufflepuff table, _Reyna never cries. _She was too strong and too proud to ever cry.

My first class of the day was History of Magic. Unfortunately, the professor, Professor Athena, had not forgotten about the dragon incident. Every time that she had a tough question to ask, she made sure to direct it to me first. I might have been caught up with the reading, but, I swear, most of the answers to her questions hadn't been in the reading.

The second time that I was unable to provide an answer that she was satisfied with, she took ten points from Slytherin. I couldn't help myself from asking her boldly, "I thought I was in Hufflepuff?"

"Not for House points, you're not. And, I do not appreciate your sass. Five more points from Slytherin." The rest of the Slytherins groaned in frustration. Drew reached forward and flicked me in the back of the head.

I shrunk down into my seat with a sigh and did my best to suffer through the rest of the lecture.

Potions with Professor Hecate was next. This class was both better and worse than History. Better because Professor Hecate was polite to me, but worse because this was the class where I was partnered with Will.

I got to class first. When Will arrived, he patted me on the back and grinned big. I blushed and turned my attention to the front of the classroom, where Professor Hecate was.

Professor Hecate began the lesson by instructing us to open our books to the chapter about today's potion. As she demonstrated some of the methods we'd be using for this potion, I did my best to ignore Will (he was humming a peppy tune).

We got started on our potion. The steps were complex, but we were proceeding along well. Our potion started bubbling right when the instructions said they would. The only problem was that it was _really _bubbling, when the instructions said there should only be a light bubbling.

I waved my hand over the potion and hissed when I felt how much heat was coming off our potion. "Too hot." I commented as I stared at the potion. We must have added too much of something.

"Why, thank you." Will said. It took me a moment to process his seemingly random remark. _Thank you...?_ When I realized that he had assumed that my words were a compliment for him, my face grew hot and it wasn't due to the heat from the potion.

I glared at Will and spluttered, "N-not you, the potion!"

"Oh, my bad!" He replied with a chuckle, before winking at me. Wait, did I see that correctly? My mind short circuited for a moment. If I didn't know better, I would have said that Will was acting flirty. But no, that was crazy. Right?

Once I'd recovered, I punched Will in the arm. "Idiot." I hissed at him, embarrassed. He laughed.

"Oooooh, look Octavian," Drew said suddenly from the table behind us, "Nico's already found himself a boyfriend."

I sucked in my breath in horror. Did Drew _know?_ Was I being too obvious with how I was acting around Will? I felt like throwing up. I refused to turn around and look at her, even when she stared to cackle like a maniac. Will, on the other hand, had lost his cheerful smile and was staring back at Drew. He looked annoyed.

Octavian, who was Drew's potions partner, didn't immediately reply. I heard Drew try to catch his attention by asking, "Right, Octavian?"

I was getting ready to turn around and yell at both of them, when Octavian spoke. "Drew, are you busy on Friday?" Curiosity replacing my embarrassment, I glanced over my shoulder. Octavian was leaning over the textbook, his face contorted with deep thought.

Drew replied to him, clearly baffled by his question, "Um, yea. I have to meet with Professor Demeter to work on my lunar flower project."

"No matter. I can do it by myself." Octavian said dismissively. He bit his lower lip and scribbled some notes in his text book before returning to his potion.

_Weird._ I thought with a frown. The good thing was that Drew's attention was now on Octavian rather than on me. As she leaned over and whispered in his ear, I turned back to my potion.

Will returned to his happy self and we finished our potion together. Throughout the class, he kept making comments that were borderline flirtatious, but I decided that maybe this was simply how he treated his fellow Hufflepuffs? Now that I was decked out in yellow and black, I was included in the club of people that he flirted with platonically.

My next two classes passed quickly. In divination, Professor Apollo was his normal, over the top self. Then, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, I paired up with Reyna to practice hexing each other.

It was weird walking back to the Hufflepuff common room after Defense class. Usually, Reyna and I would always head back to the Slytherin common room together after class, but today... today we went in opposite directions.

Despite that, the rest of the day wasn't too bad. At dinner, Kayla (who was actually Will's cousin, as I found out) asked me about my Italian heritage. I was hesitant to answer her at first, as the Slytherins usually teased me about my background whenever it got brought up. However, she actually seemed generally interested, so I opened up to her.

Later that night, Jason, Hazel, and Will convinced me to join them in studying for the quiz we were going to have the next day in Charms. Slytherins didn't do study groups, so it was weird at first. However, it ended up being kind of nice. Hazel helped me with my pronunciations while Will helped with my wrist movements.

In fact, when I couldn't quite get one of the wrist flicks just right, he reached over and wrapped his hand around mine to show me. It was crazy, the effect Will had on me. Just by touching me, Will had me breathing raggedly. "O-okay, thanks." I told him, before yanking my hand out of his. The feeling of his warm hand over mine lingered for a while.

Hazel and Jason were both smiling stupidly. I wasn't sure why, but I immediately didn't like it. It made me feel embarrassed. Clearing my throat, I insisted that we move to the next charm.

Thanks to the group review session, I actually did well the next day during the quiz. Professor Aphrodite was so thrilled with me that she gave me a hug (that I didn't want).

The class that didn't go well on Tuesday was my Care of Magical Creatures class. _Normally_, this was my favorite class. _Normally_, I got along great with Professor Tyson. _Normally,_ he didn't spend the entire class watching me nervously. However, like Professor Athena, Professor Tyson had not forgotten about the dragon incident.

The entire class was gathered around him as he petted his hippogriff, Blackjack. Professor Tyson was explaining proper hippogriff feeding techniques. As he taught, he kept one eye glued on where I was in the back of the group.

The one time that I dug into my pocket to get some gum, Professor Tyson snapped at me in front of the entire class to keep my wand away. Hot with shame, I dropped my gaze to the ground. To be honest, it sucked to have Professor Tyson treating me like some sort of villain. He was one of my favorite professors. A wave of depression rose up within me, but I maintained a straight face as I glared down at my shoes.

Then Will wormed his way through the crowd and stopped at my side. Before I could venomously ask him _what do you want_, he bumped his hip into mine and gave me a reassuring smile.

It was like he understood.

I thought about snapping at Will, thought about telling him I didn't need his support. But... well, it was kind of nice to have it. I'm not really sure what overcame me, but I found myself smiling shyly at Will. That is, until, about two seconds later, I realized what I was doing. I whipped my gaze away, blushing fiercely.

Will giggled. I wasn't sure what he found funny and I was too afraid to ask.

Class ended. On the way back into the castle, Reyna nudged me in the side with her elbow and winked at me. When I scowled at her in confusion, she whispered the name_ Will_ into my ear. She ran off, laughing, before I could cast hexes at her.

The rest of the week flew by. In the evenings, I focused on my homework and studying. Occasionally, I joined study groups with the other Hufflepuffs. It was peculiar having others to go to for academic support. For example, Hazel volunteered to read through my History of Magic essay (not that it mattered, though – Professor Athena was going to fail me anyways).

Will managed to convince to, ah, _passively _participate in the Hufflepuff activities. And by _passively_, I mean that I watched everyone else participate. Admittedly, karaoke, while not something I personally would ever consider doing, ended up being highly amusing to watch.

By the end of the week, I was kind of excited for the surprise that Will had promised me. Over the past week, he'd reminded me about it several times. Although, he had not yet once given me any clues as to what it was.

So, on Friday, as we ate dinner at the Hufflepuff table, I tried to pester the answer out of Will.

"The surprise better not be another stupid muggle card game." I told him flatly.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." Will replied cheerfully.

"What if I don't like the surprise?"

"Then you'll hurt my feelings." Will propped his head onto his fist and looked at me, grinning mischievously. "But I know you'll like it."

"How do you know that I'll like it?"

"Because I just do."

I scoffed at Will's logic. I still didn't have a clue as to what his surprise was.

From the other side of the table, Cecil pipped up, "Oh, Will, is it _that_ surprise?" He put a lot of emphasize on _that_. I scowled with confusion.

Will's grin grew so wide that it reminded me of one of a muggle cartoon character on a coffee cup of Will's (I think he had called it the Chesire cat?) that was on his bookshelf, back in the dorm. On that note, I wasn't sure why Will had such an obsession with silly muggle things. It was an unhealthy obsession.

"Oh yea, it's totally that one." Will said.

"Oh man!" Cecil exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Really?" Lou Ellen jumped into the conversation, "_That _surprise? Wow, okay Will."

Alright, I was about to go crazy. How did they both know? Was this a surprise he had done for them too? And why were they so shocked? I voiced my concerns, "Wait a second, you guys know? What's the surprise?"

Cecil ignored me and told Will, "Wow, you're really going all out!"

Will's obnoxious grin was beginning to frustrate me. He shrugged playfully and said, "Oh, well, you know me."

"Wait, what?" I asked dumbly. '_You know me'? _Was this something that related to Will as a person? Or was this such a strange surprise that only someone as over-the-top as Will would do it?

Then, Grover commented teasingly from two seats down from me. "I dunno, Will. Do you really think he's earned _that_ already?"

"Earned _what_!?" I demanded.

Grover's girlfriend petted his arm and said sweetly, "Oh, be nice, honey. I think it's a lovely idea."

Will started to crack up.

Hazel spoke up too from where she was sitting next to me. "Knowing Nico, he still won't thank you afterward, no matter how nice_ it_ is!" She gave my cheek a poke with her finger. I considered biting it off.

I settled for smacking her hand away before growling, "What is this damned surprise!? How come you all know!? Tell me!" As I spoke, everyone around the table started to break into fits of laughter and giggles.

I stared at them, shocked and annoyed, as they all doubled over in their laughter. Even Will was hysterically giggling. I wasn't sure what I was missing.

It was Jason who finally spoke, a kind smile on his face. "Nico... I don't think any of them know what the surprise is, other than Will."

That didn't make any sense. "What do you mean? They all sounded like -" _they knew_. I didn't finish my sentence, because the joke hit me like a train. They didn't know. They were all just playing along as if they did to be funny.

Will snorted out from between laughter, "I'm so sorry, Nico... it was just too easy."

Groaning, I rubbed my face in embarrassment. They had all been teasing me. Who did they think they were, teasing me, an unforgiving, unloving Slytherin, like that? What's worse was that it was sort of funny to me. Yes, it was humiliating, but I could tell the joke wasn't made to be mean. Which, by the way, was awfully refreshing. When Octavian or Drew made a joke, it was really a thinly disguised attack.

Regardless, some level of revenge was in order. Will was in the middle of recovering from his giggles, rubbing tears from the corners of his eyes. I reached over and gave his arm a hard pinch.

He let out a little _ow_ as I huffed at him, "You're an ass."

Much to my embarrassment, he leaned over and teased me further by telling me softly, "Aww, but you like it."

I blushed and dropped my gaze to stare pointedly at my food.

The Hufflepuffs preformed karaoke again that night. I listened to Jason bleat out the words to _I Believe I Can Fly_ before deciding I'd had enough. I used the rest of the night to get ahead on studying for my Care of Magic Creatures class. When the other boys started to roll into the dorm for bed, I gave up my studying and gave into sleep.

I woke up way too soon.

Someone was shaking me and whispering in my ear. I peeled my eyes into narrow slits and gazed at the dark dorm around me. The world behind the curtains was still dark. That made sense once my eyes drifted to a clock on the wall, which read:_ 2:46 A. M_.

The person shaking me was Will. I growled and drowsily whacked at his arms. He stopped shaking me, but whispered stubbornly, "Come on, wake up."

I blinked sleep out of my eyes, yawned, and sat up. Will was wearing his pajamas but he looked wide awake. "What the fuck, Will, what do you fucking want?" I grumbled at him softly_. He better have a good fucking reason to wake me up in the middle of the night_, I thought to myself.

"Well, aren't you just a ball of sunshine?" He whispered back with a sunny grin.

"You woke me the fuck up." I pointed out to him sourly.

"I woke you up because it's time for the surprise."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What, in the middle of the fucking night?" What on Merlin's beard was this ridiculous surprise?

"Do you always curse like a sailor when you're tired?" He asked me, pleasant as ever, as he tilted his head.

"Fuck you."

My curiosity ended up winning over in the end. I wanted to see this surprise more than I wanted to sleep, so I dragged myself out of bed and slipped on my robe and shoes. Will grabbed his own cloak and we sneaked our way out of the dorm and out of the Hufflepuff House.

Following Will through the dark corridors reminded me of when, in second year, I had spent a few weeks exploring the labyrinth of secret entrances and passageways around Hogwarts. Of course, I had stopped using them once I discovered that Percy and his friends were using them too. At the time, I, shyly, didn't want to run into the Gryffindor that I had a crush on.

The Hufflepuff that I now had a (most unfortunate) crush on lead the way up five flights of stairs. We moved quickly, checking around corners before passing around them. The last thing we wanted was to be caught by the cranky caretaker, Mr. Dionysus.

Finally, Will came to a stop in front of a random statue. "Wizard's rule." He told the statue, which then began to twirl. A passageway appeared in the stone. Will waved for me to follow before ducking through the newly created doorway.

It was a bathroom. A really impressive, over-the-top, huge bathroom. The first thing I noticed was the giant hot tub – or pool? It was borderline in size between the two. Then I noticed the line of porcelain sinks, detailed with gold and silver. The entire bathroom was the definition of posh.

But, why had Will lead me here? And what exactly was _here_? Why did this ritsy bathroom exist? I had a thousand questions, but I only asked one. "Um, Will, where are we?"

Will turned around to face me and threw out his arms in a grand gesture. "This, Nico, is the Prefect bathroom! It has everything, including a fantastic, luxurious, oversized hot tub!"

"Uh... your surprise is that we take a bath together?" My face was turning red at the implications.

"Sorta, yea." He replied casually before digging into his pockets and pulling out two wadded up pieces of cloth. He threw one at me; it was swim trunks. "That's Cecil's. I figured you two are around the same size!"

It was a crazy, strange idea. But, a dip in a hot tub did sound nice. I nodded hesitantly and went over to the row of stalls to change.

When I exited the stall, Will was already in the water. I paused and watched as he leaned out of the water and twisted on some faucets, causing bubbles to erupt in the tub. His entire chest was there for me to see, with the hem of his orange trunks poking just slightly above the bubbling water.

Once again, I found myself admiring the evidence of his Quidditch exercise. Lean muscles were etched onto his chest.

Suddenly, I felt extremely self-conscious. Unlike Will's, my chest was pale and smooth. I hugged my robe and clothes tighter to my chest like a shield. Gulping, I forced myself to approach the edge of the hot tub.

Will grinned up at me. "The water's great!" He said before sinking into the water so that the bubbles lapped at his ears.

I placed my clothes at the edge of the hot tub and quickly climbed into the water. He wasn't lying – the heat and the bubbles felt amazing. It was definitely an improvement from both the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff bathrooms.

We relaxed in the water for several minutes. I was actually starting to fall asleep when a small stream of water hit my face. Blinking, I sat up in the water and glared questioningly at Will. He looked mischievous.

Will clasped his hands together and squirted water out from between them. I hissed as it sprayed right at me again. _Jerk, _I thought with annoyance,_ two can play at that game. _It looked easy, what he had done, so I tried to copy his movements. I clasped my hands together and pressing my palms together at the surface of the water. However, I didn't get the same result: no water squirted out of my hands.

I tried a few more times in vain, before giving up and splashing Will by smacking the water with my palm like a normal human being.

Will laughed. "How do you not know how to do this?" Will asked as he squirted more water from his clasped hands. "Didn't you go swimming as a kid?"

"No, not really. I learned how to swim when I was young, but that was about it." I replied with a shrug.

"What!? Why not?" Will gasped. I wasn't sure why he found it so unusual. None of the wizarding families that I was acquainted with while growing up bothered to swim unless it was for exercise or educational purposes.

Huffing, I replied casually, "Why would I? It's not like I'm a stupid muggle. I've got better things to do than waste time in a giant bathtub!"

A funny, worried look overcame Will's face. _Did I offend him?_ I wondered. His idea of a cool surprise had been a giant hot tub... maybe it had been a bit rude to insult spending time in a '_giant bathtub'_ when that's exactly what we were doing?

I added quickly, "This is nice, though." I splashed him again for emphasize. His sunny smile returned.

A comfortable silence fell over us again as we both enjoyed the hot tub.

The bubbles rolled around me, massaging me into a deep relaxation. My mind wandered.

It was peculiar, this surprise. Here I was, a Slytherin, taking a bath with a cute Hufflepuff. It was nonsensical. Heck, it was nonsensical even when considered from his side of the situation. Why on earth was he doing all of this? I hadn't been particularly nice to him. In fact, sometimes I had been purposefully petulant when dealing with him. Yet, here he was, spoiling me with the Prefect's hot tub. A hot tub that normal students like me weren't supposed to use.

That's when it occurred to me that the reason that Will brought me here in the dead of the night was so that no one would find us breaking the rules. He, a kind, hard working Hufflepuff, was breaking rules for me.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I blurted out, breaking the silence.

Will blinked in surprise. Tilting his head, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Bringing me here…" My voice drifted off as it occurred to me that this was by no means the only time he'd gone out of his way to be nice to me. Heck, from the moment that I had arrived in Hufflepuff, Will had strove to be friendly and welcoming to me. "… and everything else."

Will frowned with confusion. "Why wouldn't I be nice to you? I mean, I know this transition is hard for you. " He explained kindly, "I like to try and make it easier."

I waited for him to add what he got out of it. Surely, there was another reason besides him doing all of this for me. _People don't just act selflessly_. No, I'd gotten used to expecting to find deeper motives whenever, say, a fellow Slytherin offered help or support. In a way, I preferred it. People were easy to understand if you knew what motivated them.

Could wanting to help someone else truly be a motive? I considered it. Perhaps this was one of those weird Hufflepuff habits? _Maybe._

"Oh." I replied dumbly as my mind pondered over the situation.

"Yea." Will replied softly, the corner of his lip quirking upward.

It was a strange thought that Will would want to help me simply in order to help me. It made my insides feel funny. I sunk a bit deeper into the water and stared down at the bubbles. My cheeks were burning, but I wasn't sure if it was entirely due to the heat of the hot tub. I hesitated for several second before shyly mumbling, "Thanks."

The blinding grin that Will flashed me and the way his eyes danced with amusement didn't help the funny feeling in my guts. My eyes locked onto him and my heart pounded hard in my chest. He looked extremely hot, wet and red from the heat. It was captivating.

Then Will broke that captivation by smacking the water and splashing me. As the spray hit me, I cussed, "_Fuck!_" Growling, I splashed back.

And then he splashed back.

And then I splashed back.

And thus began a splash war. Laughter bubbled out of me like the bubbles from the hot tub jets. My hair became completely dowsed, but I didn't care.

We were in the middle of playfully splashing water at each other when the entrance to the bathroom hummed open. Both Will and I stopped our splash war as footsteps echoed from the hallway entrance.

Octavian rushed into the bathroom, his black robes covered with silvery liquid stains.

He didn't notice us at first. He seemed frantic, his eyes wide and his breath ragged. He raced to the line of porcelain sinks and began to rip his clothes off. My jaw fell open as he yanked off his robe, threw it into the sink, and then unbuttoned his white dress shirt, which had the same silvery stains as his robe. The shirt joined the robe in the sink, revealing his pale, muscular chest.

Right when Octavian's hands started on the button of his pants, Will cleared his throat loudly. Octavian froze. I noticed that his hands were trembling.

His gaze slowly turned and focused in on us. In the time span of about one and half seconds, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his wand, and swiveled his body around to face us. There was a wild look in his eyes.

All I could think about was how my wand was buried in my robe, which was all the way over at the other end of the tub, and how it would take me way too long to get it.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, yall! C:

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